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3 – Managing Fabrics
Zoning a Fabric
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3.4.1
Zoning Concepts
The following zoning concepts provide some context for the zoning tasks
described in this section:
Zones
Aliases
Zone sets
Zoning database
Zoning configuration
3.4.1.1
Zones
A zone is a named group of ports or devices that can communicate with each
other. Membership in a zone can be defined by domain ID and port number,
device Fibre Channel address, or device World Wide Name (WWN). Zone
members can communicate only with members of the same zone.
Three types of zones are supported. The following zone types define increasingly
restrictive levels of communication.
Soft zone
Access Control List (ACL) - hard zone
Virtual Private Fabric (VPF) - hard zone
3.4.1.1.1
Soft Zones
Soft zoning divides the fabric for purposes of controlling discovery. Members of
the same soft zone automatically discover and communicate freely with all other
members of the same zone. The soft zone boundary is not secure; traffic across
soft zones can occur if addressed correctly. Soft zones that include members from
multiple switches need not include the ports of the inter-switch links. Soft zone
boundaries yield to ACL and VPF zone boundaries. Soft zones can overlap; that
is, a port can be a member of more than one soft zone. Zone membership can be
defined by Fibre Channel address, domain ID and port number, worldwide name,
or a combination. Soft zoning supports all port modes.